August 2015 Culture War in Dixie: Pro-Confederate Flag Rally at Stone Mountain Park, Georgia
August 1, 2015 (Saturday)
Above: Atlanta Journal-Constitutionphoto of Confederate Flag supporters holding a rally at Stone Mountain Park, Georgia, August 1, 2015
Above: Associated Press photos (via Atlanta Journal-Constitution) of the rally in support of the Confederate Flag held at Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta, Georgia on August 1, 2015
Above: Atlanta Journal-Constitutionphoto of Confederate Flags carried by protesters--during a rally in support of the Confederate Flag--below the mountainside carvings of Confederate figures Robert E. Lee, Jefferson David, and Stonewall Jackson at Stone Mountain Park, Georgia on August 1, 2015
Above: Atlanta Journal-Constitutionphoto of Confederate Flag supporters ascending Stone Mountain, a giant rock formation at Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta, Georgia, August 1, 2015
Above: Atlanta Journal-Constitutionphoto of a Confederate Flag supporter carrying a Confederate Flag atop Stone Mountain as a part of a larger pilgrimage of Southern heritage advocates who journeyed to the top of the giant rock formation at Stone Mountain Park, Georgia on August 1, 2015
Above: Photo at left shows the iconic February 1945 WWII photograph of U.S. Marines raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima--an immortalized moment signifying American perseverance and triumph. The photo at right shows a Confederate Flag supporter, in the presence of a gun-wielding militiaman and other Pro-Confederate Flag demonstrators, carrying a Confederate Flag atop Stone Mountain near Atlanta, Georgia on August 1, 2015. The photo on the right signifies, among many things, the flailing gestures of an embattled demographic facing the tides of sweeping social change in the Age of Obama. Seventy years separate the two photos.
"Hundreds made their way to the world’s largest Confederate monument in Stone Mountain Park on Saturday for a rally they say is focused on preserving Southern heritage.
Early Saturday morning, a procession of pickup trucks, cars and motorcycles adorned with the Confederate and U.S. flags stretched at least five miles along I-285 as onlookers in other vehicles — many of them black — looked on bewildered or disgusted.
In the park, hundreds, many of them white, had already made their way into the park’s Yellow Daisy lot, some dressed in camouflage and toting rifles. Others like the League of the Confederacy passed out literature. They came from all over the state to protest what they see as an attack on their heritage."
"An uncomfortable tolerance of the Confederate flag in mainstream society was upended in June when photos circulated on the Internet revealing that a young white racist charged with killing nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, had posed with the Confederate symbol. Dylann Roof also burned a U.S. flag for good measure. Roof wants to plead guilty to more than 30 federal charges, his lawyer said Friday.
John Russell Houser — the right-wing extremist who shot 11 people, two of them fatally, before killing himself in a Louisiana movie theater in July — also flew a large Confederate flag outside his home, and hung a Nazi swastika banner outside a bar he owned in Georgia.
Many politicians echoed South Carolina's Republican Gov. Nikki Haley to remove the Confederate flag after the Charleston killings, describing it as a relic that belongs in museums but not on official display. Haley called it 'a deeply offensive symbol of a brutally oppressive past.' Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said 'it shouldn't fly anywhere.'
Hundreds of Confederate flag wavers gathered this weekend in Georgia's Stone Mountain Park, home to the huge 'Confederate Memorial Carving' featuring Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee and General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson."
"Donald Trump fired a political aide Sunday over alleged racist Facebook postings, a sign that the new Republican presidential front-runner is working to add a professional patina to his campaign. He also raised the possibility of a third-party run.
'If I am not treated fairly by the Republican party I very well might consider that,' Trump said Sunday in a phone interview on ABC's This Week. On the same day, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski announced the firing of Sam Nunberg, an on-again, off-again Trump aide who has been accused of making racist posts on Facebook.
Nunberg, who says he doesn't remember writing them, did not respond to efforts to reach him for comment. The posts, which use racial epithets and make mocking references to President Barack Obama's African heritage, were first unearthed by Business Insider."
---Mark Halperin, Bloomberg, August 2, 2015
2015 Major League Baseball Season: Detroit Tigers 6, Baltimore Orioles 1
"Jeb Bush stumbled through a familiar question about his brother and father, struggling for the right words as he cracked a joke about duking it out with anyone who questioned the legacy of his aging dad.
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey awkwardly said aloud what many have been wondering about his candidacy: 'Am I washed up?'
And Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina reached back to the 1990s to attack Hillary Rodham Clinton’s credibility by dredging up her husband’s dishonesty about a sexual affair....
...After weeks of preparing for a smash-mouth debate with Donald J. Trump, 14 Republican candidates found themselves instead Trump-less but sandwiched into a constricting format on Monday night, delivering strikingly uneven performances just days before the first big test of the presidential primary contest."
---New York Times, August 3, 2015
2015 Major League Baseball Season: Baltimore Orioles 9, Oakland A's 2
Fox News Announces the 10 GOP Presidential Candidates to Qualify for its August 6th Debate
August 4, 2015 (Tuesday)
Above: Fox News declared Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Donald Trump, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, and Rand Paul to be eligible to participate in the August 6, 2015 GOP debate in Cleveland, Ohio
"Republican Governors Chris Christie and John Kasich on Tuesday grabbed the last spots on stage next to front-runner Donald Trump and seven others in the first prime-time presidential debate, winning a potentially valuable head start in exposure.
Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum and five others in the crowded 2016 Republican field were left out of Thursday's televised 9 p.m. EDT debate by host Fox News, which invited the top 10 candidates in an average of five recent opinion polls.
The leftover candidates will appear in a separate forum outside of the spotlight at 5 p.m. EDT on Thursday, leaving them fighting to win attention and prove to voters and donors they have a legitimate shot at the nomination.
At center stage in prime time will be Trump, the real estate mogul who has shot to the top of Republican polls, flanked by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, the top three finishers in the poll average.
Also making the cut were former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Governors Christie of New Jersey and Kasich of Ohio."
---Reuters, August 4, 2015
2015 Major League Baseball Season: Cincinnati Reds 3, St. Louis Cardinals 2
50th Anniversary of the Enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
August 6, 2015 (Thursday)
GOP Presidential Debate in Cleveland, Ohio
August 6, 2015 (Thursday)
Above: AP photo of the ten participants--those being New Jersey governor Chris Christie, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (Florida), Surgeon Ben Carson, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, real estate mogul Donald Trump, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, for Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (Texas), U.S. Senator Rand Paul (Kentucky), and Ohio governor John Kasich---in the GOP presidential candidates debate in Cleveland, Ohio on August 6, 2015
Above: AP photo of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump (with Jeb Bush looking on) in action in Cleveland, Ohio on August 6, 2015; AP photo of Ohio Governor John Kasich at the Fox News Republican presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio, August 6, 2016
Above: AP photo of the ten candidates selected to participate in the August 6, 2015 Republican debate in Cleveland, Ohio; Screen image on August 7, 2015 from Drudge Report, a conservative website sympathetic to Donald Trump
"A combative Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman-turned-presidential candidate, jolted the first Republican debate of the 2016 campaign by warning he might run as an independent if denied the GOP nomination. His startling declaration left his onstage rivals scrambling to compete for attention the rest of the night.
Asked in the debate's opening minutes whether he could rule out a third-party run, Trump declared Thursday night, 'I will not make the pledge at this time.' He also refused to apologize for making crude comments about women, defended his changing policy positions and tangled with the debate moderators.
While Trump was characteristically bombastic, most of the contenders standing alongside him clamored for their piece of the spotlight without engaging him directly. They quarreled over immigration, terrorism and gay marriage, each casting himself as the strongest to take on Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton. They also assailed President Barack Obama and his nuclear deal with Iran."
"Shedding any pretense of civility and party unity, Donald J. Trump overwhelmed the first Republican presidential debate on Thursday night by ripping into his rivals and the moderators alike, but also drew fire from Jeb Bush and others who are seeking to stop his breathtaking surge.
Mr. Trump displayed his trademark pugnacity from the start with a bravura moment: refusing to rule out a third-party run for the presidency if he does not win the party’s nomination. Facing loud boos from audience members in a Cleveland sports arena, he held his hand up in defiance as several other Republicans looked flabbergasted."
"New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the No. 3 Senate Democrat and next-in-line party leader, said late Thursday that he is breaking with President Barack Obama and will oppose the Iran nuclear deal.
'After deep study, careful thought and considerable soul-searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval,' Schumer said in a statement weeks before he will cast a vote.
Schumer, a leading Jewish Democrat, is the first senator of Obama's party to step forward to oppose the deal. His announcement came just hours after two other Senate Democrats — New York's Kirsten Gillibrand and New Hampshire's Jeanne Shaheen — announced their support for the international accord.
The deal, struck last month with Tehran and Western powers, would curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in relief from crippling sanctions.
Schumer's decision is a blow to the administration, though it remains to be seen how many other Democratic lawmakers follow the New York senator. Schumer informed the White House of his decision Thursday afternoon. New York Rep. Eliot Engel, who is Jewish and the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement that he too would oppose the deal.
Schumer's split with Obama is remarkable for a senior leader in line to replace Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., after he retires at the end of next year.
Schumer's decision also puts him at odds with the Democrats' likely presidential nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has cautiously embraced the deal. The Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, supports the accord and has been working hard to persuade lawmakers to do the same.
The administration, which has lobbied intensely for the pact, had secured the backing of more than a dozen Senate Democrats and more than two dozen House Democrats, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Republicans, who control the House and Senate, are uniformly opposed to the deal."
---Associated Press, August 7, 2015
Monthly Jobs Report: U.S. Economy Experiences Increase of 215,000 Jobs in July 2015
"Twenty-nine of the nation’s top scientists — including Nobel laureates, veteran makers of nuclear arms and former White House science advisers — wrote to President Obama on Saturday to praise the Iran deal, calling it innovative and stringent.
The letter, from some of the world’s most knowledgeable experts in the fields of nuclear weapons and arms control, arrives as Mr. Obama is lobbying Congress, the American public and the nation’s allies to support the agreement.
The two-page letter may give the White House arguments a boost after the blow Mr. Obama suffered on Thursday when Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, a Democrat and among the most influential Jewish voices in Congress, announced he would oppose the deal, which calls for Iran to curb its nuclear program and allow inspections in return for an end to international oil and financial sanctions.
The first signature on the letter is from Richard L. Garwin, a physicist who helped design the world’s first hydrogen bomb and has long advised Washington on nuclear weapons and arms control. He is among the last living physicists who helped usher in the nuclear age."
---New York Times, August 8, 2015
2015 Major League Baseball Season: Toronto Blue Jays 5, New York Yankees 0
August 8, 2015 (Saturday)
70th Anniversary of the American Atomic Bombing of the Japanese City of Nagasaki
August 9, 2015 (Sunday)
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Unrest in Ferguson, Missouri
August 9,10, and 11, 2015 (Sunday-Monday-Tuesday)
Above: Reuters photo of protesters in St. Louis, Missouri, August 10, 2015
Above: AP photo ofpolice and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri on August 10, 2015
Police arrested nearly two dozen people in Ferguson during a protest that stretched into early Tuesday marking the anniversary of the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, although there was no repeat of the violence that scarred weekend demonstrations.
There were no shots fired and no burglaries, looting or property damage during the protest along West Florissant Avenue, county police spokesman Shawn McGuire said. The St. Louis suburb thoroughfare was the focus of months of massive protests and sometimes violent unrest last summer after the killing of Brown by a Ferguson police officer.
But on Monday night, no smoke or tear gas was used, and no police or civilians reported injuries, McGuire said in a statement. By 1 a.m., the crowd and police were heading home.
McGuire said approximately 23 arrests were made, though police were still confirming official totals.
Late Sunday, a protest in the same area was interrupted by gunfire and a police shooting that left an 18-year-old suspect critically injured. The violence set Ferguson on edge and had protest leaders worried that tensions could escalate. St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger declared a state of emergency that authorized county Police Chief Jon Belmar to take control of police emergency management in and around Ferguson.
Early Monday evening, hundreds of protesters were chanting, beating drums and carrying signs. When some in the group moved into a traffic lane, officers in riot gear forced people out of the street. Some demonstrators threw water bottles and other debris at officers.
"St. Louis is in a rerun of a nightmare. Protesters are still being arrested by the dozens, with 144 arrested on Monday alone. Officers still patrol the streets with riot gear and pepper spray, deploying smoke bombs in an effort to break up demonstrations whose very existence points to the lack of change. The Oath Keepers, a largely white paramilitary group, have returned, perching on the rooftops of Ferguson’s West Florissant Avenue with rifles in hand while police stand idly by. On Monday, St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger proclaimed a 'state of emergency' reminiscent of the one enacted last fall, once again prompting school cancellations and other disruptions of daily life.
We are living August 2014 again. We are living November 2014 again. We are living in a place where the only lesson learned seems to be how much people can get away with."
"At least 58 people were killed and more than 100 wounded on Monday in two blasts in eastern Iraq claimed by Islamic State in a province once considered mostly free of them.
In January Iraqi officials declared victory over the insurgents in Diyala province, which borders Iran, after security forces and Shi'ite paramilitaries drove them out of towns and villages there. But the militants have remained active.
An explosion at a market in Huwaidar, about 4 km (2.5 miles) north of the provincial capital of Baquba, killed 51 people and wounded at least 80, police and medical sources said.
'The attacker managed to pass a checkpoint by lining up with a wedding motorcade and then split off with his explosives-packed vehicle to blow it up in a crowded marketplace,' said Diyala police captain Mohammed al-Tamimi.
Islamic State, which controls large parts of northern and western Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack in the mixed Sunni-Shi'ite Muslim province and said the target was 'rejectionists', as the group refers to Shi'ites.
A separate blast to the east of Baquba killed a further seven people and wounded 25. Islamic State said it had targeted a checkpoint manned by the army and volunteers from the Hashid Shaabi - an umbrella group for mainly Shi'ite militias fighting the radical jihadist group.
The attacks took place less than a month after a bombing claimed by Islamic State in the nearby town of Khan Bani Saad, which killed more than 100 people and prompted riots by distraught mourners."
---Reuters, August 10, 2015
The Iran Nuclear Deal: John Kerry and Chuck Schumer at Odds
August 11, 2015 (Tuesday)
Above: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry; U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, D-New York
"Secretary of State John Kerry sparred Tuesday with the lone Democratic senator to publicly oppose last month's historic Iran nuclear deal, saying there was no way the U.S. could prevent American allies from doing business with Tehran if Congress were to reject the agreement.
Speaking across town in New York, Sen. Chuck Schumer disagreed and suggested Washington still could force the world into isolating the Iranians until they make deeper nuclear concessions.
The dispute goes to the heart of the questions that American lawmakers are considering as they prepare to vote on the nuclear accord.
If they were to shelve the deal — and override an expected presidential veto — they could severely complicate the Obama administration's ability to honor its commitments to roll back economic sanctions on Iran. In exchange, Iran has agreed to a decade of tough restrictions on Iran's nuclear program and a far more intrusive inspections regime.
Republicans are almost universally opposed at this point."
---Associated Press, August 11, 2015
Former President Jimmy Carter Announces that he has Cancer
August 12, 2015 (Wednesday)
Above: Jimmy Carter, President of the United States, January 20, 1977 to January 20, 1981
Above: Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, Georgia, December 22, 2015 (Photo by Mark Leavins)
"Former President Jimmy Carter, who at age 90 still travels the world supporting the humanitarian endeavors that have consumed his time in the decades since he left office, announced Wednesday he has cancer that has spread to other parts of his body."
"Mr. Carter established the Department of Education and increased college tuition grants for needy students. He ended federal price regulation of trucking, interstate buses, railroads and airlines.
America’s energy outlook would not be as bright as it is today were it not for his dogged determination to awaken the American public and Congress to the dangers of our growing dependence on foreign oil. He broke a quarter-century impasse and began to phase out federal price controls for natural gas, and then crude oil; created the Department of Energy; and began tax incentives for home insulation and for solar energy.
He created the modern vice presidency, making Walter F. Mondale a full partner, and giving him an office close to his own, access to classified documents and involvement in every major decision.
Mr. Carter’s greatest achievements lay in foreign policy, in the humbling aftermath of Vietnam. In an extraordinary act of diplomatic negotiation that he personally conducted at Camp David, Md., Mr. Carter produced the first Middle East peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. It remains a touchstone of United States security policy in the region.
In Asia, he took on the Taiwan lobby to establish full diplomatic relations with China, completing the opening begun by Richard M. Nixon. In Latin America, he began a new era of mutual respect by turning over the Panama Canal to local control, and limiting arms sales to military dictatorships. His administration began the unraveling of the Soviet Union by embracing human rights and introducing intermediate-range missiles in Europe."
---Stuart Eizenstat, New York Times, August 25, 2015
"A truck bomb ripped through a popular Baghdad food market in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood early on Thursday morning, killing at least 67 people, police officials said, in one of the deadliest single blasts in the Iraqi capital in years.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the explosion, saying it targeted a gathering place of Shiites and vowed more such attacks.
The truck hit the Jameela market in the Iraqi capital's crowded Sadr City neighborhood shortly after dawn, according to two local police officers. They said at least 152 people were wounded at the market, which is the main center for produce and food sales in Baghdad.
Residents of the Shiite community rushed to help the victims, carrying corpses in garbage bags and blankets and sending the wounded to local hospitals in ambulances or personal cars. The blast incinerated much of the market, leaving charred wooden market stalls and scattering fruits and vegetables far around it."
Nationwide Movie Premiere of Straight Outta Compton
August 14, 2015 (Friday)
Above: Straight Outta Compton movie poster; Straight Outta Compton album cover; the Straight Outta Compton album debuted on August 8, 1988, and the movie debuted nationwide on August 14, 2015
"A spate of bombings across Baghdad killed at least 24 people on Saturday, two days after the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi took office one year ago.
The deadliest attack took place in the Shi'ite district of Habibiya, where 15 people were killed when a car bomb exploded near an open area where cars are displayed for sale."
"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wants to deny citizenship to the babies of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally as part of an immigration plan that emphasizes border security and deportation for millions.
He would also rescind Obama administration executive orders on immigration.
Trump described his expanded vision of how to secure American borders during a wide-ranging interview Sunday on NBC's 'Meet The Press,' saying that he would push to end the constitutionally protected citizenship rights of children of any family living illegally inside the U.S.
'They have to go,' Trump said, adding: 'What they're doing, they're having a baby. And then all of a sudden, nobody knows ... the baby's here.'
Native-born children of immigrants — even those living illegally in the U.S. — have been automatically considered American citizens since the adoption of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution in 1868.
The odds of repealing the amendment's citizenship clause would be steep, requiring the votes of two-thirds of both houses of Congress and support from three-fourths of the nation's state legislatures. Republicans in Congress have repeatedly failed since 2011 to pass bills aimed at ending "birthright citizenship." Some conservatives believe that the granting of citizenship in such cases could be changed without amending the Constitution.
'They're illegal,' Trump said, describing native-born children of people living illegally in the US. 'You either have a country or not.'"
"A huge bomb explosion that appeared to target a popular Hindu shrine in central Bangkok killed at least 22 people Monday and wounded about 120 more, authorities said.
Twelve victims died at the scene, and the others died later at area hospitals, officials said."
---CNN, August 17, 2015
U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, Announces Opposition to Nuclear Deal with Iran
August 18, 2015 (Tuesday)
Above: U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, at Seton Hall University, Tuesday, August 18, 2015
"Police fatally shot a black man they say pointed a gun at them in St. Louis on Wednesday, drawing angry crowds and recalling the racial tensions sparked by the killing of an unarmed African-American teen in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, just over a year ago.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said the shooting took place as officers were issuing a search warrant in a crime-ridden neighborhood, when two young black men ran out the back door of the targeted house.
Police officers ordered the men to stop in the alley behind the house and one suspect pointed a gun at officers who then fired approximately four times, killing him, Dotson said.
Despite the police explanation of events, dozens of people gathered near the scene protesting the police use of deadly force, according to local media.
Police in SWAT gear and an armored vehicle ordered the crowd to disperse and some people were taken into custody, according to a report by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Dotson told journalists the gun the suspect pointed at them was stolen. He said officers also recovered crack cocaine at the scene."
---Reuters, August 19, 2015
Jeb Bush Defends his use of the term "Anchor Babies"
"Jeb Bush on Thursday defended using the term 'anchor babies' after Democrats hounded the former Florida governor and his presidential rival, Donald Trump, for using the term this week.
'No, I don't. I don't regret it,' Bush said sharply, growing testy with a questioner while talking to reporters. Pressed further, a more agitated Bush fired off: 'No, do you have a better term? OK, you give me, you give me a better term and I'll use it. I'm serious.'"
Donald Trump Holds Large Campaign Rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama
August 21, 2015 (Friday)
Above: AL.com photo of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking at his campaign rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on August 21, 2015
Above: AL.com photo of Donald Trump at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on August 21, 2015; AL.com photo of attendees of the Donald Trump campaign rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on August 21, 2015
Above: AL.com photo of GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump speaking to an audience of 20,000 or so at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on August 21, 2015
Above: Timecover featuring Donald Trump in August 2015; AL.com photo of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on August 21, 2015
Above: Twitter composite photo pertaining to the Donald Trump presidential campaign rally in Mobile, Alabama, an event held on the evening of August 21, 2015
Above: Getty Images photo at Slate.com of Donald Trump at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on August 21, 2015
"Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Friday joked, 'Now I know how the great Billy Graham felt' as he addressed the largest crowd yet of his thriving presidential campaign.
'I would like to have the election tomorrow,' Trump crowed. 'I don't want to wait.'
Trump evoked Graham — the evangelist who packed stadiums around the world — as he brought his message to the Deep South. The 40,000-seat Ladd-Peebles Stadium was about half-full when he began his speech.
Trump was welcomed by an array of Alabama politicians, including Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, who praised him for the attention he's drawn to immigration issues. And Trump led off his speech with more criticism of immigrants living in the country illegally, drawing loud cheers when he repeated his promise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
He reiterated his intention to end 'birthright citizenship' for children of immigrants here illegally.
Trump also attacked the Obama administration's deal with Iran to restrict that country's nuclear program, calling it 'so sad.'
And he again promised to 'repeal and replace Obamacare' — the health care law that's President Barack Obama's defining domestic achievement.
The South will be strategically important because a group of states in the region, including Alabama, hold their primaries on March 1, 2016, right after the early voting states.
Before Trump arrived, his fans — some carrying signs, others wearing T-shirts supporting the billionaire businessman — spoke of his outsider status in a crowded field dominated by former and current elected officials as the song 'Sweet Home Alabama' blared from loudspeakers.
'Donald Trump is telling the truth and people don't always like that,' said Donald Kidd, a 73-year-old retired pipe welder from Mobile. 'He is like George Wallace, he told the truth. It is the same thing.'
Wallace, a fierce opponent of civil rights, served as governor of Alabama and sought the presidency multiple times.
Kidd said Trump is a 'breath of fresh air,' and praised him as a businessman with common sense.
Savannah Zimmerman, a 27-year-old registered nurse from Mobile, agreed. 'I think he appeals to us Southerners because he tells it like it is and he has strong opinions. That is the way we are here in the South,' she said."
"GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump, during a rousing 54-minute speech Friday in the north end zone at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, blasted U.S. leaders being weak international trade negotiators while telling supporters he's the guy who can 'make America better than it's ever been.'
A large and enthusiastic Mobile crowd roared its approval as the billionaire real estate developer and reality TV show star walked on stage to 'Sweet Home Alabama' before firing into a speech that touched upon an array of his campaign talking points: Illegal immigration, job creation, weak U.S. politicians, health care and trade negotiations."
"In the command centers of Republican presidential campaigns, aides have drawn comfort from the belief that Donald J. Trump’s dominance in the polls is a political summer fling, like Herman Cain in 2011 — an unsustainable boomlet dependent on megawatt celebrity, narrow appeal and unreliable surveys of Americans with a spotty record of actually voting in primaries.
A growing body of evidence suggests that may be wishful thinking.
A review of public polling, extensive interviews with a host of his supporters in two states and a new private survey that tracks voting records all point to the conclusion that Mr. Trump has built a broad, demographically and ideologically diverse coalition, constructed around personality, not substance, that bridges demographic and political divides. In doing so, he has effectively insulated himself from the consequences of startling statements that might instantly doom rival candidates."
"Kim and Renee Byrd had wanted to see Donald Trump’s speech in Mobile, but there were vegetables to sell. The Byrds are third-generation farmers, and the traffic along Route 90, toward the Gulf of Mexico, brings in travelers who want fresh honey, fresh peaches, fresh okra. Driving 45 minutes to Mobile was asking a little much, even if the next president of the United States was calling.
'He runs an empire,' Renee Byrd, 44, said of Trump. 'That’s what the country needs, someone who runs an empire.'
The Byrds say they think the nation needs someone who is realistic about immigration, too. Officially, less than 10 percent of Robertsdale residents are Hispanic. According to Kim Byrd, 45, that does not account for the trailer parks 'saturated with Mexicans' or for 'all the convenience stores' bought by immigrants with mysterious tax breaks."
"The Washington Post’s Philip Bump surmised that Trump chose Mobile because it 'lies on the Gulf Coast' in close proximity to 'other big population centers' like New Orleans and Tallahassee, and, less close but still not far, Birmingham and Atlanta.
Whatever his reason for being there, Trump sure seemed at home. He laughed and joked with the crowd. At one point, he walked around to the front of the podium, reached down into the audience, and plucked a copy of his book, The Art of the Deal from the hands of a female fan. Trump, ladykiller, called her 'beautiful.' He said his book is his 'second favorite book of all time,' and then asked the crowd what his first favorite book is. He seemed to smirk before he shouted, 'THE BIBLE!!!'
This is Trump’s way of assuring Southern voters that he is, if not a man of God, at least someone who respects God’s branding—because for Trump to concede that anybody, divine or otherwise, produced a better product than he did, he has to think at least as highly of them as he thinks himself. And that’s as good as evangelicals are going to get from him."
---The Daily Beast, August 22, 2015
Iraq Announces that ISIS Forces Killed Dozens of Iraqi Troops
August 22, 2015 (Saturday)
Above: Wikipedia map of Iraq with Anbar Province highlighted in dark orange
"Islamic State militants killed up to 50 soldiers in two separate ambushes in Iraq's turbulent Anbar province west of the capital, Baghdad, a top provincial official said Saturday.
Sabah al-Karhout, president of the Anbar Provincial Council, told The Associated Press the ambushes took place Friday west of the provincial capital, Ramadi, but said he had no more details. There was no immediate word from federal authorities or the Islamic State group.
The Islamic State group controls much of the vast Anbar province, including Ramadi and the city of Fallujah.
Government forces and Shiite militiamen have been trying to dislodge Islamic State fighters from the province but they have been making slow progress. They also have been coming mounting pressure in the oil refinery town of Beiji north of Baghdad, with Islamic State militants fighting their way toward the center of the town. Beiji was liberated from the extremists late last year."
"Lebanon's prime minister threatened to resign on Sunday, warning rival parties in his unity cabinet that the state faced collapse because of paralysis that has come to a head with its failure to resolve a crisis over rubbish disposal.
Protesters called for a second day of demonstrations against Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet on Sunday after at least 35 people were injured on Saturday night when security forces used water cannons and tear gas to disperse several thousand demonstrators in central Beirut.
Salam's government has suffered almost complete paralysis since it took office last year as wider crises in the Middle East, including the war in neighboring Syria, have exacerbated Lebanon's own political and sectarian divisions."
"Lebanese riot police fired tear gas and water cannons for the second consecutive day in downtown Beirut Sunday as they battled protesters with batons and stones — a marked escalation of mass demonstrations against an ongoing trash crisis.
Sporadic gunfire echoed through the capital's commercial district into the night as police fired in the air to disperse protesters. The violence came hours after Prime Minister Tammam Salam hinted he might step down following violent protests Saturday that injured more than 100 people.
The violence threatens to plunge Lebanon in new instability and political turmoil, adding to the greater Mideast's upheaval. The demonstrations, the largest in years to shake tiny Lebanon, seek to upend what protesters see as a corrupt and dysfunctional political system that has no functional Cabinet or parliament, nor a president for more than a year."
---Associated Press, August 23, 2015
The Dow Loses 3.57% of its Value
August 24, 2015 (Monday)
Above: Reuters chart showing the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 588 points and closing at 15,871 on August 24, 2015
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Loses 204 Points, a 1.29% Decline
August 25, 2015 (Tuesday)
Above: Reuters chart showing the Dow losing 204 points, closing at 15,666 on August 25, 2015
Donald Trump vs. Univision's Jorge Ramos During Press Conference
"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump engaged in a prolonged confrontation with the anchor of the nation's leading Spanish-language network during a news conference Tuesday, first having the well-known news personality removed before allowing him back in.
Jorge Ramos, the Miami-based anchor for Univision, stood up and began to ask Trump about his immigration proposal, which includes ending automatic citizenship for infants born in the United States to parents in the country illegally.
As Ramos began to speak, Trump interrupted him, saying he hadn't called on Ramos before repeatedly telling him to 'sit down' and then saying, 'Go back to Univision.'"
---Associated Press, August 25, 2015
On-Air Massacre in Virginia: Disgruntled Former TV Station Employee Murders Reporter and Cameraman
"An Islamic State suicide bomber killed two Iraqi army generals on Thursday as they led forces against IS positions in the turbulent Anbar province west of Baghdad, military officials said.
They said the bomber drove his explosives-laden vehicle into the advancing troops north of Anbar's provincial capital, Ramadi, killing the two generals and three soldiers. A military spokesman said on state television that 10 other soldiers were wounded. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The IS group captured Ramadi earlier this year and also controls the nearby city of Fallujah.
In Syria, IS militants seized five villages from rebel groups in the north as part of an advance toward the strategic town of Marea near the Turkish border. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activist groups said the IS carried out a suicide bombing on the outskirts of Marea amid fierce fighting in the area."
"Two senior Iraqi military commanders were killed on Thursday in suicide car bomb attacks claimed by Islamic State in Anbar province where pro-government forces are battling the insurgents, a military spokesman and police sources said.
The military and police, backed by Shi'ite militias, Sunni tribal fighters and U.S.-led coalition air strikes, are fighting to retake the city, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, from the radical Sunni insurgents. Progress has been slow.
Deputy commander of Anbar Operations Command Major-General Abdel Rahman Abu Ragheef and Brigadier Safeen Abdel Majeed, head of the tenth division, were killed in the attack in the Jerayshi area north of Ramadi along with three other people, said joint operations spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool."
"Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Friday ordered security forces to ease access to Baghdad's fortified Green Zone and main streets, in an apparent bid to improve daily life for ordinary Iraqis as fresh protests erupted across the country.
The capital and many southern cities have witnessed demonstrations in recent weeks calling for provision of basic services, the trial of corrupt politicians, and the shakeup of a system riddled with graft and incompetence.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators filled Baghdad's Tahrir Square on Friday in what a senior security official called the biggest protest of the summer. Thousands more rallied in Najaf, Basra and other cities across the Shi'ite southern heartland following a call from powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr."
---Reuters, August 28, 2015
American Marriage in Flux: Dianne Bentley, Wife of Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, Files For Divorce
"Gov. Robert Bentley's wife of 50 years, Dianne, today filed for divorce, saying 'their marriage has suffered an irretrievable breakdown,' according to court records.
The couple, both 72, were married in 1965 and have four children."
"Donald Trump took his colorful campaign to Nashville on Saturday, where he courted a constituency that some say he is tailor-made for: the tea party.
He competed in a presidential straw poll here -- winning handily with 52% of the vote -- and addressed the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, a group that boasts it was 'the tea party before there was a tea party.'
Trump's appearance was highly anticipated at the conservative gathering: As a candidate, he's hitting the same notes -- anger at conventional politics, contempt for Washington and distrust of special interests and lobbyists -- that propelled the tea party movement in 2010."
---CNN, August 29, 2015
Thirty-One Democrats in the U.S. Senate on Record in Support to Sustain the Iran Nuclear Deal
August 30, 2015 (Sunday)
Above: AP photo of U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, in 2015; Merkley.Senate.gov map of world with Iran highlighted in white
"Oregon's Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley on Sunday became the 31st senator to announce support for the Iran nuclear deal, as momentum builds behind the agreement the Obama administration and other world powers negotiated with Tehran.
Merkley's backing puts supporters within reach of the 34 votes required to uphold a presidential veto of a congressional resolution disapproving the agreement, which curbs Iran's nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
Republicans are unanimously against the deal. But with an overwhelming number of Senate Democrats in favor, some have now begun aiming to amass 41 yes votes, which would allow them to kill the disapproval resolution outright in the Senate and protect Obama from having to use his veto pen.
A vote on the nuclear deal the U.S. and other world powers negotiated with Iran is scheduled for early September."
August 2015
Culture War in Dixie: Pro-Confederate Flag Rally at Stone Mountain Park, Georgia
August 1, 2015 (Saturday)
Above: Atlanta Journal-Constitution photo of Confederate Flag supporters holding a rally at Stone Mountain Park, Georgia, August 1, 2015
Above: Associated Press photos (via Atlanta Journal-Constitution) of the rally in support of the Confederate Flag held at Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta, Georgia on August 1, 2015
Above: Atlanta Journal-Constitution photo of Confederate Flags carried by protesters--during a rally in support of the Confederate Flag--below the mountainside carvings of Confederate figures Robert E. Lee, Jefferson David, and Stonewall Jackson at Stone Mountain Park, Georgia on August 1, 2015
Above: Atlanta Journal-Constitution photo of Confederate Flag supporters ascending Stone Mountain, a giant rock formation at Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta, Georgia, August 1, 2015
Above: Atlanta Journal-Constitution photo of a Confederate Flag supporter carrying a Confederate Flag atop Stone Mountain as a part of a larger pilgrimage of Southern heritage advocates who journeyed to the top of the giant rock formation at Stone Mountain Park, Georgia on August 1, 2015
Above: Photo at left shows the iconic February 1945 WWII photograph of U.S. Marines raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima--an immortalized moment signifying American perseverance and triumph. The photo at right shows a Confederate Flag supporter, in the presence of a gun-wielding militiaman and other Pro-Confederate Flag demonstrators, carrying a Confederate Flag atop Stone Mountain near Atlanta, Georgia on August 1, 2015. The photo on the right signifies, among many things, the flailing gestures of an embattled demographic facing the tides of sweeping social change in the Age of Obama. Seventy years separate the two photos.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Pro-Confederate Flag Rally at Stone Mountain, Georgia, August 1, 2015
"Hundreds made their way to the world’s largest Confederate monument in Stone Mountain Park on Saturday for a rally they say is focused on preserving Southern heritage.
Early Saturday morning, a procession of pickup trucks, cars and motorcycles adorned with the Confederate and U.S. flags stretched at least five miles along I-285 as onlookers in other vehicles — many of them black — looked on bewildered or disgusted.
In the park, hundreds, many of them white, had already made their way into the park’s Yellow Daisy lot, some dressed in camouflage and toting rifles. Others like the League of the Confederacy passed out literature. They came from all over the state to protest what they see as an attack on their heritage."
---Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 1, 2015
Wall Street Journal: Pro-Confederate Flag Rally on Stone Mountain, Georgia, August 1, 2015
Newsday: Confederate Flag Supporters Rally at Stone Mountain, Georgia, August 1, 2015
"Hundreds of people gathered at Stone Mountain Park, just outside Atlanta, to rally in support of the Confederate battle flag.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports a long line of vehicles bearing the flags made its way into the park early Saturday."
---Newsday, August 1, 2015
Associated Press: Some Still Support the Confederate Flag
"An uncomfortable tolerance of the Confederate flag in mainstream society was upended in June when photos circulated on the Internet revealing that a young white racist charged with killing nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, had posed with the Confederate symbol. Dylann Roof also burned a U.S. flag for good measure. Roof wants to plead guilty to more than 30 federal charges, his lawyer said Friday.
John Russell Houser — the right-wing extremist who shot 11 people, two of them fatally, before killing himself in a Louisiana movie theater in July — also flew a large Confederate flag outside his home, and hung a Nazi swastika banner outside a bar he owned in Georgia.
Many politicians echoed South Carolina's Republican Gov. Nikki Haley to remove the Confederate flag after the Charleston killings, describing it as a relic that belongs in museums but not on official display. Haley called it 'a deeply offensive symbol of a brutally oppressive past.' Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said 'it shouldn't fly anywhere.'
Hundreds of Confederate flag wavers gathered this weekend in Georgia's Stone Mountain Park, home to the huge 'Confederate Memorial Carving' featuring Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee and General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson."
---Associated Press, August 2, 2015
Washington Post: The Confederate Flag and Mississippi
2015 Major League Baseball Season: Boston Red Sox 11, Tampa Bay Rays 7
August 1, 2015 (Saturday)
Boston 11, Tampa Bay 7
GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Fires Aide Over Aide's Alleged Racist Online Postings
August 2, 2015 (Sunday)
Bloomberg.com: Trump Fires Aide, August 2, 2015
"Donald Trump fired a political aide Sunday over alleged racist Facebook postings, a sign that the new Republican presidential front-runner is working to add a professional patina to his campaign. He also raised the possibility of a third-party run.
'If I am not treated fairly by the Republican party I very well might consider that,' Trump said Sunday in a phone interview on ABC's This Week. On the same day, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski announced the firing of Sam Nunberg, an on-again, off-again Trump aide who has been accused of making racist posts on Facebook.
Nunberg, who says he doesn't remember writing them, did not respond to efforts to reach him for comment. The posts, which use racial epithets and make mocking references to President Barack Obama's African heritage, were first unearthed by Business Insider."
---Mark Halperin, Bloomberg, August 2, 2015
2015 Major League Baseball Season: Detroit Tigers 6, Baltimore Orioles 1
August 2, 2015 (Sunday)
Detroit 6, Baltimore 1
Republican Presidential Candidates Gather at New Hampshire Forum
August 3, 2015 (Monday)
Above: New York Times photo of several of the Republican presidential candidates at a forum in Manchester, New Hampshire, August 3, 2015
New York Times: GOP Presidential Candidates Congregate at New Hampshire Forum, August 3, 2015
"Jeb Bush stumbled through a familiar question about his brother and father, struggling for the right words as he cracked a joke about duking it out with anyone who questioned the legacy of his aging dad.
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey awkwardly said aloud what many have been wondering about his candidacy: 'Am I washed up?'
And Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina reached back to the 1990s to attack Hillary Rodham Clinton’s credibility by dredging up her husband’s dishonesty about a sexual affair....
...After weeks of preparing for a smash-mouth debate with Donald J. Trump, 14 Republican candidates found themselves instead Trump-less but sandwiched into a constricting format on Monday night, delivering strikingly uneven performances just days before the first big test of the presidential primary contest."
---New York Times, August 3, 2015
2015 Major League Baseball Season: Baltimore Orioles 9, Oakland A's 2
August 3, 2015 (Monday)
Baltimore 9, Oakland 2
Fox News Announces the 10 GOP Presidential Candidates to Qualify for its August 6th Debate
August 4, 2015 (Tuesday)
Above: Fox News declared Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Donald Trump, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, and Rand Paul to be eligible to participate in the August 6, 2015 GOP debate in Cleveland, Ohio
Reuters: Trump, Bush, Carson, Cruz, Rubio, Kasich, Christie, Paul, Huckabee, and Walker Make the Cut, August 4, 2015
"Republican Governors Chris Christie and John Kasich on Tuesday grabbed the last spots on stage next to front-runner Donald Trump and seven others in the first prime-time presidential debate, winning a potentially valuable head start in exposure.
Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum and five others in the crowded 2016 Republican field were left out of Thursday's televised 9 p.m. EDT debate by host Fox News, which invited the top 10 candidates in an average of five recent opinion polls.
The leftover candidates will appear in a separate forum outside of the spotlight at 5 p.m. EDT on Thursday, leaving them fighting to win attention and prove to voters and donors they have a legitimate shot at the nomination.
At center stage in prime time will be Trump, the real estate mogul who has shot to the top of Republican polls, flanked by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, the top three finishers in the poll average.
Also making the cut were former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Governors Christie of New Jersey and Kasich of Ohio."
---Reuters, August 4, 2015
2015 Major League Baseball Season: Cincinnati Reds 3, St. Louis Cardinals 2
August 4, 2015 (Tuesday)
Reds 3, Cardinals 2
President Obama Delivers Speech in Support of the Nuclear Deal with Iran
August 5, 2015 (Wednesday)
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Associated Press: President Obama Delivers Major Speech on the Iranian Nuclear Deal, August 5, 2015
New York Times: Coverage of President Obama's Speech at American University, August 5, 2015
70th Anniversary of the American Atomic Bombing of the Japanese City of Hiroshima
August 6, 2015 (Thursday)
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Above: Diagram of Little Boy, the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945
CBS News: 70th Anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Washington Post: Myth and the Atomic Bombs Dropped on Japan in August 1945
50th Anniversary of the Enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
August 6, 2015 (Thursday)
GOP Presidential Debate in Cleveland, Ohio
August 6, 2015 (Thursday)
Above: AP photo of the ten participants--those being New Jersey governor Chris Christie, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (Florida), Surgeon Ben Carson, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, real estate mogul Donald Trump, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, for Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (Texas), U.S. Senator Rand Paul (Kentucky), and Ohio governor John Kasich---in the GOP presidential candidates debate in Cleveland, Ohio on August 6, 2015
Above: AP photo of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump (with Jeb Bush looking on) in action in Cleveland, Ohio on August 6, 2015; AP photo of Ohio Governor John Kasich at the Fox News Republican presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio, August 6, 2016
Above: AP photo of the ten candidates selected to participate in the August 6, 2015 Republican debate in Cleveland, Ohio; Screen image on August 7, 2015 from Drudge Report, a conservative website sympathetic to Donald Trump
Associated Press: Coverage of the GOP Presidential Debate in Cleveland, Ohio, August 6, 2015
"A combative Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman-turned-presidential candidate, jolted the first Republican debate of the 2016 campaign by warning he might run as an independent if denied the GOP nomination. His startling declaration left his onstage rivals scrambling to compete for attention the rest of the night.
Asked in the debate's opening minutes whether he could rule out a third-party run, Trump declared Thursday night, 'I will not make the pledge at this time.' He also refused to apologize for making crude comments about women, defended his changing policy positions and tangled with the debate moderators.
While Trump was characteristically bombastic, most of the contenders standing alongside him clamored for their piece of the spotlight without engaging him directly. They quarreled over immigration, terrorism and gay marriage, each casting himself as the strongest to take on Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton. They also assailed President Barack Obama and his nuclear deal with Iran."
---Associated Press, August 7, 2015
New York Times: Coverage of the GOP Presidential Debate in Cleveland, Ohio, August 6, 2015
"Shedding any pretense of civility and party unity, Donald J. Trump overwhelmed the first Republican presidential debate on Thursday night by ripping into his rivals and the moderators alike, but also drew fire from Jeb Bush and others who are seeking to stop his breathtaking surge.
Mr. Trump displayed his trademark pugnacity from the start with a bravura moment: refusing to rule out a third-party run for the presidency if he does not win the party’s nomination. Facing loud boos from audience members in a Cleveland sports arena, he held his hand up in defiance as several other Republicans looked flabbergasted."
---New York Times, August 7, 2015
Politico: Bush was Bland
Slate: A List of Insults Hurled by Donald Trump during the August 6th GOP Debate
Jon Stewart Finishes his Tenure at The Daily Show on Comedy Central
August 6, 2015 (Thursday)
Associated Press: Coverage of Jon Stewart's Finale on Comedy Central's The Daily Show
New York Times: Coverage of Jon Stewart's Finale on The Daily Show
The Daily Beast: Jon Stewart's Daily Show Finale
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, D-New York, Announces Opposition to Iran Nuclear Deal
August 6, 2015 (Thursday)
Above: U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, D-New York
Associated Press: Chuck Schumer Breaks With Obama on the Iran Nuclear Deal, August 6, 2015
"New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the No. 3 Senate Democrat and next-in-line party leader, said late Thursday that he is breaking with President Barack Obama and will oppose the Iran nuclear deal.
'After deep study, careful thought and considerable soul-searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval,' Schumer said in a statement weeks before he will cast a vote.
Schumer, a leading Jewish Democrat, is the first senator of Obama's party to step forward to oppose the deal. His announcement came just hours after two other Senate Democrats — New York's Kirsten Gillibrand and New Hampshire's Jeanne Shaheen — announced their support for the international accord.
The deal, struck last month with Tehran and Western powers, would curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in relief from crippling sanctions.
Schumer's decision is a blow to the administration, though it remains to be seen how many other Democratic lawmakers follow the New York senator. Schumer informed the White House of his decision Thursday afternoon. New York Rep. Eliot Engel, who is Jewish and the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement that he too would oppose the deal.
Schumer's split with Obama is remarkable for a senior leader in line to replace Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., after he retires at the end of next year.
Schumer's decision also puts him at odds with the Democrats' likely presidential nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has cautiously embraced the deal. The Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, supports the accord and has been working hard to persuade lawmakers to do the same.
The administration, which has lobbied intensely for the pact, had secured the backing of more than a dozen Senate Democrats and more than two dozen House Democrats, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Republicans, who control the House and Senate, are uniformly opposed to the deal."
---Associated Press, August 7, 2015
Monthly Jobs Report: U.S. Economy Experiences Increase of 215,000 Jobs in July 2015
August 7, 2015 (Friday)
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New York Times: U.S. Economy Created 215,000 Jobs in July 2015
Twenty-nine Members of the Scientific Community Endorse the Recent Nuclear Deal with Iran
August 8, 2015 (Saturday)
Above: NBC News photo of physicist Richard L. Garwin and President George W. Bush in 2003; President Barack Obama
New York Times: Group of Twenty-nine Scientists and Engineers Write Letter of Support to Obama in Support of the Iranian Nuclear Deal, August 8, 2015
"Twenty-nine of the nation’s top scientists — including Nobel laureates, veteran makers of nuclear arms and former White House science advisers — wrote to President Obama on Saturday to praise the Iran deal, calling it innovative and stringent.
The letter, from some of the world’s most knowledgeable experts in the fields of nuclear weapons and arms control, arrives as Mr. Obama is lobbying Congress, the American public and the nation’s allies to support the agreement.
The two-page letter may give the White House arguments a boost after the blow Mr. Obama suffered on Thursday when Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, a Democrat and among the most influential Jewish voices in Congress, announced he would oppose the deal, which calls for Iran to curb its nuclear program and allow inspections in return for an end to international oil and financial sanctions.
The first signature on the letter is from Richard L. Garwin, a physicist who helped design the world’s first hydrogen bomb and has long advised Washington on nuclear weapons and arms control. He is among the last living physicists who helped usher in the nuclear age."
---New York Times, August 8, 2015
2015 Major League Baseball Season: Toronto Blue Jays 5, New York Yankees 0
August 8, 2015 (Saturday)
70th Anniversary of the American Atomic Bombing of the Japanese City of Nagasaki
August 9, 2015 (Sunday)
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Unrest in Ferguson, Missouri
August 9,10, and 11, 2015 (Sunday-Monday-Tuesday)
Above: Reuters photo of protesters in St. Louis, Missouri, August 10, 2015
Above: AP photo of police and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri on August 10, 2015
Associated Press: Unrest in Ferguson
Police arrested nearly two dozen people in Ferguson during a protest that stretched into early Tuesday marking the anniversary of the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, although there was no repeat of the violence that scarred weekend demonstrations.
There were no shots fired and no burglaries, looting or property damage during the protest along West Florissant Avenue, county police spokesman Shawn McGuire said. The St. Louis suburb thoroughfare was the focus of months of massive protests and sometimes violent unrest last summer after the killing of Brown by a Ferguson police officer.
But on Monday night, no smoke or tear gas was used, and no police or civilians reported injuries, McGuire said in a statement. By 1 a.m., the crowd and police were heading home.
McGuire said approximately 23 arrests were made, though police were still confirming official totals.
Late Sunday, a protest in the same area was interrupted by gunfire and a police shooting that left an 18-year-old suspect critically injured. The violence set Ferguson on edge and had protest leaders worried that tensions could escalate. St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger declared a state of emergency that authorized county Police Chief Jon Belmar to take control of police emergency management in and around Ferguson.
Early Monday evening, hundreds of protesters were chanting, beating drums and carrying signs. When some in the group moved into a traffic lane, officers in riot gear forced people out of the street. Some demonstrators threw water bottles and other debris at officers.
---Associated Press, August 11, 2015
Politico: The Ferguson, Missouri Nightmare
"St. Louis is in a rerun of a nightmare. Protesters are still being arrested by the dozens, with 144 arrested on Monday alone. Officers still patrol the streets with riot gear and pepper spray, deploying smoke bombs in an effort to break up demonstrations whose very existence points to the lack of change. The Oath Keepers, a largely white paramilitary group, have returned, perching on the rooftops of Ferguson’s West Florissant Avenue with rifles in hand while police stand idly by. On Monday, St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger proclaimed a 'state of emergency' reminiscent of the one enacted last fall, once again prompting school cancellations and other disruptions of daily life.
We are living August 2014 again. We are living November 2014 again. We are living in a place where the only lesson learned seems to be how much people can get away with."
---Sarah Kendzior, Politico, August 11, 2015
Deadly Bombing in Iraq
August 10, 2015 (Monday)
Above: Wikipedia map of Iraq
Reuters: Deadly Bombing in Iraq, August 10, 2015
"At least 58 people were killed and more than 100 wounded on Monday in two blasts in eastern Iraq claimed by Islamic State in a province once considered mostly free of them.
In January Iraqi officials declared victory over the insurgents in Diyala province, which borders Iran, after security forces and Shi'ite paramilitaries drove them out of towns and villages there. But the militants have remained active.
An explosion at a market in Huwaidar, about 4 km (2.5 miles) north of the provincial capital of Baquba, killed 51 people and wounded at least 80, police and medical sources said.
'The attacker managed to pass a checkpoint by lining up with a wedding motorcade and then split off with his explosives-packed vehicle to blow it up in a crowded marketplace,' said Diyala police captain Mohammed al-Tamimi.
Islamic State, which controls large parts of northern and western Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack in the mixed Sunni-Shi'ite Muslim province and said the target was 'rejectionists', as the group refers to Shi'ites.
A separate blast to the east of Baquba killed a further seven people and wounded 25. Islamic State said it had targeted a checkpoint manned by the army and volunteers from the Hashid Shaabi - an umbrella group for mainly Shi'ite militias fighting the radical jihadist group.
The attacks took place less than a month after a bombing claimed by Islamic State in the nearby town of Khan Bani Saad, which killed more than 100 people and prompted riots by distraught mourners."
---Reuters, August 10, 2015
The Iran Nuclear Deal: John Kerry and Chuck Schumer at Odds
August 11, 2015 (Tuesday)
Above: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry; U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, D-New York
Associated Press: John Kerry vs. Chuck Schumer, August 11, 2015
"Secretary of State John Kerry sparred Tuesday with the lone Democratic senator to publicly oppose last month's historic Iran nuclear deal, saying there was no way the U.S. could prevent American allies from doing business with Tehran if Congress were to reject the agreement.
Speaking across town in New York, Sen. Chuck Schumer disagreed and suggested Washington still could force the world into isolating the Iranians until they make deeper nuclear concessions.
The dispute goes to the heart of the questions that American lawmakers are considering as they prepare to vote on the nuclear accord.
If they were to shelve the deal — and override an expected presidential veto — they could severely complicate the Obama administration's ability to honor its commitments to roll back economic sanctions on Iran. In exchange, Iran has agreed to a decade of tough restrictions on Iran's nuclear program and a far more intrusive inspections regime.
Republicans are almost universally opposed at this point."
---Associated Press, August 11, 2015
Former President Jimmy Carter Announces that he has Cancer
August 12, 2015 (Wednesday)
Above: Jimmy Carter, President of the United States, January 20, 1977 to January 20, 1981
Above: Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, Georgia, December 22, 2015 (Photo by Mark Leavins)
ABC News: Jimmy Carter Announces that he has Cancer, August 12, 2015
"Former President Jimmy Carter, who at age 90 still travels the world supporting the humanitarian endeavors that have consumed his time in the decades since he left office, announced Wednesday he has cancer that has spread to other parts of his body."
---ABC News, August 12, 2015
NPR: Jimmy Carter Announces that he has Cancer, August 12, 2015
Jimmy Carter's Presidential Legacy
"Mr. Carter established the Department of Education and increased college tuition grants for needy students. He ended federal price regulation of trucking, interstate buses, railroads and airlines.
America’s energy outlook would not be as bright as it is today were it not for his dogged determination to awaken the American public and Congress to the dangers of our growing dependence on foreign oil. He broke a quarter-century impasse and began to phase out federal price controls for natural gas, and then crude oil; created the Department of Energy; and began tax incentives for home insulation and for solar energy.
He created the modern vice presidency, making Walter F. Mondale a full partner, and giving him an office close to his own, access to classified documents and involvement in every major decision.
Mr. Carter’s greatest achievements lay in foreign policy, in the humbling aftermath of Vietnam. In an extraordinary act of diplomatic negotiation that he personally conducted at Camp David, Md., Mr. Carter produced the first Middle East peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. It remains a touchstone of United States security policy in the region.
In Asia, he took on the Taiwan lobby to establish full diplomatic relations with China, completing the opening begun by Richard M. Nixon. In Latin America, he began a new era of mutual respect by turning over the Panama Canal to local control, and limiting arms sales to military dictatorships. His administration began the unraveling of the Soviet Union by embracing human rights and introducing intermediate-range missiles in Europe."
---Stuart Eizenstat, New York Times, August 25, 2015
Deadly Truck Bombing in Baghdad, Iraq
August 13, 2015 (Thursday)
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Associated Press: Coverage of Deadly Truck Bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, August 13, 2015
"A truck bomb ripped through a popular Baghdad food market in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood early on Thursday morning, killing at least 67 people, police officials said, in one of the deadliest single blasts in the Iraqi capital in years.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the explosion, saying it targeted a gathering place of Shiites and vowed more such attacks.
The truck hit the Jameela market in the Iraqi capital's crowded Sadr City neighborhood shortly after dawn, according to two local police officers. They said at least 152 people were wounded at the market, which is the main center for produce and food sales in Baghdad.
Residents of the Shiite community rushed to help the victims, carrying corpses in garbage bags and blankets and sending the wounded to local hospitals in ambulances or personal cars. The blast incinerated much of the market, leaving charred wooden market stalls and scattering fruits and vegetables far around it."
---Associated Press, August 13, 2015
August 14, 2015 (Friday)
Associated Press: Coverage of the Raising of the American Flag Over the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, August 14, 2015
New York Times: John Kerry in Cuba, August 14, 2015
Nationwide Movie Premiere of Straight Outta Compton
August 14, 2015 (Friday)
Above: Straight Outta Compton movie poster; Straight Outta Compton album cover; the Straight Outta Compton album debuted on August 8, 1988, and the movie debuted nationwide on August 14, 2015
More Deadly Bombings in Iraq
August 15, 2015 (Saturday)
Above: Wikipedia map of Iraq
Reuters: Deadly Bombings in Iraq, August 15, 2015
"A spate of bombings across Baghdad killed at least 24 people on Saturday, two days after the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi took office one year ago.
The deadliest attack took place in the Shi'ite district of Habibiya, where 15 people were killed when a car bomb exploded near an open area where cars are displayed for sale."
---Reuters, August 15, 2015
Donald Trump Vows to Deport Illegal Immigrants
August 16, 2015 (Sunday)
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Associated Press: Trump Vows to Deport Illegal Immigrants, August 16, 2015
"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wants to deny citizenship to the babies of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally as part of an immigration plan that emphasizes border security and deportation for millions.
He would also rescind Obama administration executive orders on immigration.
Trump described his expanded vision of how to secure American borders during a wide-ranging interview Sunday on NBC's 'Meet The Press,' saying that he would push to end the constitutionally protected citizenship rights of children of any family living illegally inside the U.S.
'They have to go,' Trump said, adding: 'What they're doing, they're having a baby. And then all of a sudden, nobody knows ... the baby's here.'
Native-born children of immigrants — even those living illegally in the U.S. — have been automatically considered American citizens since the adoption of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution in 1868.
The odds of repealing the amendment's citizenship clause would be steep, requiring the votes of two-thirds of both houses of Congress and support from three-fourths of the nation's state legislatures. Republicans in Congress have repeatedly failed since 2011 to pass bills aimed at ending "birthright citizenship." Some conservatives believe that the granting of citizenship in such cases could be changed without amending the Constitution.
'They're illegal,' Trump said, describing native-born children of people living illegally in the US. 'You either have a country or not.'"
---Associated Press, August 17, 2015
Deadly Explosion in Bangkok, Thailand
August 17, 2015 (Monday)
CNN: Explosion in Bangkok, Thailand, August 17, 2015
"A huge bomb explosion that appeared to target a popular Hindu shrine in central Bangkok killed at least 22 people Monday and wounded about 120 more, authorities said.
Twelve victims died at the scene, and the others died later at area hospitals, officials said."
---CNN, August 17, 2015
U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, Announces Opposition to Nuclear Deal with Iran
August 18, 2015 (Tuesday)
Above: U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, at Seton Hall University, Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Associated Press: Democratic Senator Robert Menendez Announces he will Vote Against the Nuclear Deal with Iran, August 18, 2015
Unrest in St. Louis, Missouri
August 19, 2015 (Wednesday)
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Reuters: Unrest in St. Louis, Missouri, August 19, 2015
"Police fatally shot a black man they say pointed a gun at them in St. Louis on Wednesday, drawing angry crowds and recalling the racial tensions sparked by the killing of an unarmed African-American teen in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, just over a year ago.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said the shooting took place as officers were issuing a search warrant in a crime-ridden neighborhood, when two young black men ran out the back door of the targeted house.
Police officers ordered the men to stop in the alley behind the house and one suspect pointed a gun at officers who then fired approximately four times, killing him, Dotson said.
Despite the police explanation of events, dozens of people gathered near the scene protesting the police use of deadly force, according to local media.
Police in SWAT gear and an armored vehicle ordered the crowd to disperse and some people were taken into custody, according to a report by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Dotson told journalists the gun the suspect pointed at them was stolen. He said officers also recovered crack cocaine at the scene."
---Reuters, August 19, 2015
Jeb Bush Defends his use of the term "Anchor Babies"
August 20, 2015 (Thursday)
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CNN: Coverage of Jeb Bush and the "Anchor Babies" Moniker, August 20, 2015
"Jeb Bush on Thursday defended using the term 'anchor babies' after Democrats hounded the former Florida governor and his presidential rival, Donald Trump, for using the term this week.
'No, I don't. I don't regret it,' Bush said sharply, growing testy with a questioner while talking to reporters.
Pressed further, a more agitated Bush fired off: 'No, do you have a better term? OK, you give me, you give me a better term and I'll use it. I'm serious.'"
---CNN, August 20, 2015
CNN Columnist: Jeb Bush and the "Anchor Babies" Slur
Huffington Post: Jeb Bush's Connection to Group that Denounced Usage of Term, "Anchor Babies"
The Dow Loses Over 500 Points
August 21, 2015 (Friday)
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Donald Trump Holds Large Campaign Rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama
August 21, 2015 (Friday)
Above: AL.com photo of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking at his campaign rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on August 21, 2015
Above: AL.com photo of Donald Trump at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on August 21, 2015; AL.com photo of attendees of the Donald Trump campaign rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on August 21, 2015
Above: AL.com photo of GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump speaking to an audience of 20,000 or so at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on August 21, 2015
Above: Time cover featuring Donald Trump in August 2015; AL.com photo of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on August 21, 2015
Above: Twitter composite photo pertaining to the Donald Trump presidential campaign rally in Mobile, Alabama, an event held on the evening of August 21, 2015
Above: Getty Images photo at Slate.com of Donald Trump at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on August 21, 2015
Above: Donald Trump tweet on August 22, 2015
Associated Press: Coverage of Donald Trump Campaign Rally in Mobile, Alabama, August 21, 2015
"Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Friday joked, 'Now I know how the great Billy Graham felt' as he addressed the largest crowd yet of his thriving presidential campaign.
'I would like to have the election tomorrow,' Trump crowed. 'I don't want to wait.'
Trump evoked Graham — the evangelist who packed stadiums around the world — as he brought his message to the Deep South. The 40,000-seat Ladd-Peebles Stadium was about half-full when he began his speech.
Trump was welcomed by an array of Alabama politicians, including Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, who praised him for the attention he's drawn to immigration issues. And Trump led off his speech with more criticism of immigrants living in the country illegally, drawing loud cheers when he repeated his promise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
He reiterated his intention to end 'birthright citizenship' for children of immigrants here illegally.
Trump also attacked the Obama administration's deal with Iran to restrict that country's nuclear program, calling it 'so sad.'
And he again promised to 'repeal and replace Obamacare' — the health care law that's President Barack Obama's defining domestic achievement.
The South will be strategically important because a group of states in the region, including Alabama, hold their primaries on March 1, 2016, right after the early voting states.
Before Trump arrived, his fans — some carrying signs, others wearing T-shirts supporting the billionaire businessman — spoke of his outsider status in a crowded field dominated by former and current elected officials as the song 'Sweet Home Alabama' blared from loudspeakers.
'Donald Trump is telling the truth and people don't always like that,' said Donald Kidd, a 73-year-old retired pipe welder from Mobile. 'He is like George Wallace, he told the truth. It is the same thing.'
Wallace, a fierce opponent of civil rights, served as governor of Alabama and sought the presidency multiple times.
Kidd said Trump is a 'breath of fresh air,' and praised him as a businessman with common sense.
Savannah Zimmerman, a 27-year-old registered nurse from Mobile, agreed. 'I think he appeals to us Southerners because he tells it like it is and he has strong opinions. That is the way we are here in the South,' she said."
---Associated Press, August 21, 2015
AL.com: Coverage of Donald Trump's Rally in Mobile, Alabama, August 21, 2015
"GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump, during a rousing 54-minute speech Friday in the north end zone at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, blasted U.S. leaders being weak international trade negotiators while telling supporters he's the guy who can 'make America better than it's ever been.'
A large and enthusiastic Mobile crowd roared its approval as the billionaire real estate developer and reality TV show star walked on stage to 'Sweet Home Alabama' before firing into a speech that touched upon an array of his campaign talking points: Illegal immigration, job creation, weak U.S. politicians, health care and trade negotiations."
---AL.com, August 21, 2015
New York Times: Trump's Political Legitimacy
"In the command centers of Republican presidential campaigns, aides have drawn comfort from the belief that Donald J. Trump’s dominance in the polls is a political summer fling, like Herman Cain in 2011 — an unsustainable boomlet dependent on megawatt celebrity, narrow appeal and unreliable surveys of Americans with a spotty record of actually voting in primaries.
A growing body of evidence suggests that may be wishful thinking.
A review of public polling, extensive interviews with a host of his supporters in two states and a new private survey that tracks voting records all point to the conclusion that Mr. Trump has built a broad, demographically and ideologically diverse coalition, constructed around personality, not substance, that bridges demographic and political divides. In doing so, he has effectively insulated himself from the consequences of startling statements that might instantly doom rival candidates."
---New York Times, August 22, 2015
The Atlantic: Is Donald Trump the Exception to the Rule?
Washington Post: Immigration-Related Article Datelined from Robertsdale, Alabama
"Kim and Renee Byrd had wanted to see Donald Trump’s speech in Mobile, but there were vegetables to sell. The Byrds are third-generation farmers, and the traffic along Route 90, toward the Gulf of Mexico, brings in travelers who want fresh honey, fresh peaches, fresh okra. Driving 45 minutes to Mobile was asking a little much, even if the next president of the United States was calling.
'He runs an empire,' Renee Byrd, 44, said of Trump. 'That’s what the country needs, someone who runs an empire.'
The Byrds say they think the nation needs someone who is realistic about immigration, too. Officially, less than 10 percent of Robertsdale residents are Hispanic. According to Kim Byrd, 45, that does not account for the trailer parks 'saturated with Mexicans' or for 'all the convenience stores' bought by immigrants with mysterious tax breaks."
---Washington Post, August 22, 2015
Brother Trump's Traveling Salvation Show
"The Washington Post’s Philip Bump surmised that Trump chose Mobile because it 'lies on the Gulf Coast' in close proximity to 'other big population centers' like New Orleans and Tallahassee, and, less close but still not far, Birmingham and Atlanta.
Whatever his reason for being there, Trump sure seemed at home. He laughed and joked with the crowd. At one point, he walked around to the front of the podium, reached down into the audience, and plucked a copy of his book, The Art of the Deal from the hands of a female fan. Trump, ladykiller, called her 'beautiful.' He said his book is his 'second favorite book of all time,' and then asked the crowd what his first favorite book is. He seemed to smirk before he shouted, 'THE BIBLE!!!'
This is Trump’s way of assuring Southern voters that he is, if not a man of God, at least someone who respects God’s branding—because for Trump to concede that anybody, divine or otherwise, produced a better product than he did, he has to think at least as highly of them as he thinks himself. And that’s as good as evangelicals are going to get from him."
---The Daily Beast, August 22, 2015
Iraq Announces that ISIS Forces Killed Dozens of Iraqi Troops
August 22, 2015 (Saturday)
Above: Wikipedia map of Iraq with Anbar Province highlighted in dark orange
Associated Press: Iraq Announces that ISIS Forces Ambushed and Killed Dozens of Iraqi Troops
"Islamic State militants killed up to 50 soldiers in two separate ambushes in Iraq's turbulent Anbar province west of the capital, Baghdad, a top provincial official said Saturday.
Sabah al-Karhout, president of the Anbar Provincial Council, told The Associated Press the ambushes took place Friday west of the provincial capital, Ramadi, but said he had no more details. There was no immediate word from federal authorities or the Islamic State group.
The Islamic State group controls much of the vast Anbar province, including Ramadi and the city of Fallujah.
Government forces and Shiite militiamen have been trying to dislodge Islamic State fighters from the province but they have been making slow progress. They also have been coming mounting pressure in the oil refinery town of Beiji north of Baghdad, with Islamic State militants fighting their way toward the center of the town. Beiji was liberated from the extremists late last year."
---Associated Press, August 22, 2015
Aljazeera.com: Coverage of ISIS Operations Against Iraqi Forces
Rioting and Political Unrest in Beirut, Lebanon
August 23, 2015 (Sunday)
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Reuters: Political Unrest in Lebanon
"Lebanon's prime minister threatened to resign on Sunday, warning rival parties in his unity cabinet that the state faced collapse because of paralysis that has come to a head with its failure to resolve a crisis over rubbish disposal.
Protesters called for a second day of demonstrations against Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet on Sunday after at least 35 people were injured on Saturday night when security forces used water cannons and tear gas to disperse several thousand demonstrators in central Beirut.
Salam's government has suffered almost complete paralysis since it took office last year as wider crises in the Middle East, including the war in neighboring Syria, have exacerbated Lebanon's own political and sectarian divisions."
---Reuters, August 23, 2015
Associated Press: Coverage of Unrest in Beirut, Lebanon, August 23, 2015
"Lebanese riot police fired tear gas and water cannons for the second consecutive day in downtown Beirut Sunday as they battled protesters with batons and stones — a marked escalation of mass demonstrations against an ongoing trash crisis.
Sporadic gunfire echoed through the capital's commercial district into the night as police fired in the air to disperse protesters. The violence came hours after Prime Minister Tammam Salam hinted he might step down following violent protests Saturday that injured more than 100 people.
The violence threatens to plunge Lebanon in new instability and political turmoil, adding to the greater Mideast's upheaval. The demonstrations, the largest in years to shake tiny Lebanon, seek to upend what protesters see as a corrupt and dysfunctional political system that has no functional Cabinet or parliament, nor a president for more than a year."
---Associated Press, August 23, 2015
The Dow Loses 3.57% of its Value
August 24, 2015 (Monday)
Above: Reuters chart showing the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 588 points and closing at 15,871 on August 24, 2015
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Loses 204 Points, a 1.29% Decline
August 25, 2015 (Tuesday)
Above: Reuters chart showing the Dow losing 204 points, closing at 15,666 on August 25, 2015
Donald Trump vs. Univision's Jorge Ramos During Press Conference
August 25, 2015 (Tuesday)
Associated Press: Donald Trump vs. Jorge Ramos, August 25, 2015
"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump engaged in a prolonged confrontation with the anchor of the nation's leading Spanish-language network during a news conference Tuesday, first having the well-known news personality removed before allowing him back in.
Jorge Ramos, the Miami-based anchor for Univision, stood up and began to ask Trump about his immigration proposal, which includes ending automatic citizenship for infants born in the United States to parents in the country illegally.
As Ramos began to speak, Trump interrupted him, saying he hadn't called on Ramos before repeatedly telling him to 'sit down' and then saying, 'Go back to Univision.'"
---Associated Press, August 25, 2015
On-Air Massacre in Virginia: Disgruntled Former TV Station Employee Murders Reporter and Cameraman
August 26, 2015 (Wednesday)
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New York Times: Coverage of the On-Air Murder in Virginia, August 26, 2015
The Atlantic: Two People in Virginia Murdered on Live TV, August 26, 2015
The Dow Gains Over 600 Points
August 26, 2015 (Wednesday)
ISIS Kills Two Iraqi Generals in Suicide Bombing
August 27, 2015 (Thursday)
Above: Wikipedia map of Iraq with Anbar Province highlighted in dark orange
Associated Press: ISIS Kills Two Iraqi Generals in Suicide Bombing, August 27, 2015
"An Islamic State suicide bomber killed two Iraqi army generals on Thursday as they led forces against IS positions in the turbulent Anbar province west of Baghdad, military officials said.
They said the bomber drove his explosives-laden vehicle into the advancing troops north of Anbar's provincial capital, Ramadi, killing the two generals and three soldiers. A military spokesman said on state television that 10 other soldiers were wounded. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The IS group captured Ramadi earlier this year and also controls the nearby city of Fallujah.
In Syria, IS militants seized five villages from rebel groups in the north as part of an advance toward the strategic town of Marea near the Turkish border. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activist groups said the IS carried out a suicide bombing on the outskirts of Marea amid fierce fighting in the area."
---Associated Press, August 27, 2015
Reuters: ISIS Kills Two Iraqi Military Generals, August 27, 2015
"Two senior Iraqi military commanders were killed on Thursday in suicide car bomb attacks claimed by Islamic State in Anbar province where pro-government forces are battling the insurgents, a military spokesman and police sources said.
The military and police, backed by Shi'ite militias, Sunni tribal fighters and U.S.-led coalition air strikes, are fighting to retake the city, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, from the radical Sunni insurgents. Progress has been slow.
Deputy commander of Anbar Operations Command Major-General Abdel Rahman Abu Ragheef and Brigadier Safeen Abdel Majeed, head of the tenth division, were killed in the attack in the Jerayshi area north of Ramadi along with three other people, said joint operations spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool."
---Reuters, August 27, 2015
Protests in Iraq
August 28, 2015 (Friday)
Above: Wikipedia map of Iraq
Reuters: Protests in Iraq, August 28, 2015
"Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Friday ordered security forces to ease access to Baghdad's fortified Green Zone and main streets, in an apparent bid to improve daily life for ordinary Iraqis as fresh protests erupted across the country.
The capital and many southern cities have witnessed demonstrations in recent weeks calling for provision of basic services, the trial of corrupt politicians, and the shakeup of a system riddled with graft and incompetence.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators filled Baghdad's Tahrir Square on Friday in what a senior security official called the biggest protest of the summer. Thousands more rallied in Najaf, Basra and other cities across the Shi'ite southern heartland following a call from powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr."
---Reuters, August 28, 2015
American Marriage in Flux: Dianne Bentley, Wife of Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, Files For Divorce
August 28, 2015 (Friday)
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AL.com: Wife of Alabama Governor Robert Bentley Files for Divorce, August 28, 2015
"Gov. Robert Bentley's wife of 50 years, Dianne, today filed for divorce, saying 'their marriage has suffered an irretrievable breakdown,' according to court records.
The couple, both 72, were married in 1965 and have four children."
---AL.com, August 28, 2015
Donald Trumps Wins Straw Poll in Nashville
August 29, 2015 (Saturday)
CNN: Trump wins Straw Poll in Nashville, August 29, 2015
"Donald Trump took his colorful campaign to Nashville on Saturday, where he courted a constituency that some say he is tailor-made for: the tea party.
He competed in a presidential straw poll here -- winning handily with 52% of the vote -- and addressed the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, a group that boasts it was 'the tea party before there was a tea party.'
Trump's appearance was highly anticipated at the conservative gathering: As a candidate, he's hitting the same notes -- anger at conventional politics, contempt for Washington and distrust of special interests and lobbyists -- that propelled the tea party movement in 2010."
---CNN, August 29, 2015
Thirty-One Democrats in the U.S. Senate on Record in Support to Sustain the Iran Nuclear Deal
August 30, 2015 (Sunday)
Above: AP photo of U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, in 2015; Merkley.Senate.gov map of world with Iran highlighted in white
Associated Press: Thirty-One Democratic Senators Now on Record in Support of the Nuclear Deal with Iran, August 30, 2015
"Oregon's Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley on Sunday became the 31st senator to announce support for the Iran nuclear deal, as momentum builds behind the agreement the Obama administration and other world powers negotiated with Tehran.
Merkley's backing puts supporters within reach of the 34 votes required to uphold a presidential veto of a congressional resolution disapproving the agreement, which curbs Iran's nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
Republicans are unanimously against the deal. But with an overwhelming number of Senate Democrats in favor, some have now begun aiming to amass 41 yes votes, which would allow them to kill the disapproval resolution outright in the Senate and protect Obama from having to use his veto pen.
A vote on the nuclear deal the U.S. and other world powers negotiated with Iran is scheduled for early September."
---Associated Press, August 30, 2015
The Dow Loses 114 Points to End the Month
August 31, 2015 (Monday)
September 2015